David Simon, Creator of 'Treme' and 'The Wire,' Wins Genius Award

David Simon, creator of critically acclaimed HBO shows Treme and The Wire, is one of this year's 23 MacArthur Fellows. Recipients of the fellowship--also known as "genius" grants--are awarded $500,000, with no strings attached. Simon is by far the best known of this year's fellows, which include a bee-keeper, a jazz pianist, and a computer security specialist. The Wall Street Journalreports on why Simon was chosen:

The MacArthur foundation said it gave Mr. Simon a grant because of
his ability to "craft richly textured narratives that probe urban
America's most complex and poorly understood realities."

In an interview, Mr. Simon, 50, said that while he was honored to
receive the award, he also felt a tinge of guilt. Past winners have
been "people directly engaged in trying to improve the environment or
trying to address social injustices," he said. "To be blunt, I'm in the
entertainment industry...and my contracts are well funded right now."

Past "geniuses" include Cormac McCarthy, James McPherson, and David Macauley.